21 Creative Trade Show Display Ideas & Examples 2017

Participating in a trade show is a great opportunity for your company to showcase your products, introduce your services, and network with others in the industry. These trade show display ideas will help your trade show display stand out, even in a space filled with hundreds of other companies all vying for the same people’s attention.

Once you’ve taken a look at some of these and gathered a few ideas for your own trade show display, hire someone to help you bring it to life. Try using Fiverr, a marketplace for freelancers, to find someone who can execute your vision and design customized material for your trade show like banners, popups, and billboards. Professionals from Fiverr will execute your vision and design displays that make your business stand out and represent your brand well. Click here to browse freelancers.

Trade Show Display Ideas & Examples

1. Bright Agrotech’s display brings their product to life.

Bright Agrotech is a startup that offers vertical farming technology, software, and services. By displaying their product as a “farm wall” at trade shows, they are able to catch people’s eye and attract large crowds to their booth.

3. SplashTacular’s display has great execution.

This installation gives the same feel as the water slides SplashTacular is famous for. LED projectors simulate watery reflections on the roof of the cylinders. The execution does a great job of giving people an idea of what the company is about as well as promoting brand recall.

4. GE Renewable’s display encourages learning.

GE Renewable’s highly interactive and informational booth highlights the brand in every corner. There are multiple spaces for meeting and lounging. Every aspect of the display has brand information and offers fun ways to learn more about what the company is about.

5. QI ICT’s display is bold and stylish.

QI ICT’s booth is massive, but the layout has a flow to it that leads an attendee around the booth. The color itself along with the sheer size of the display can attract potential customers. But it’s how it’s constructed to be walked around that makes it effective.

6. Alienware’s display is simple but interactive.

Alienware’s display may just look like a box with a TV mounted on it, but it’s more effective than you think. This booth inspires participation and interaction: calling for trade show attendees to take photos and use their hashtag to get featured in their booth. With clear and simple instructions, a call to action, and a fun idea, this booth brings both fun and brand recall.

7. Nature’s Path’s display is unique and memorable.

When a booth at a trade show looks like a tree house, it’s going to be worth checking out. This display from Nature’s Path is uniquely designed and branded. Not only will it attract attention, it will be something that people will remember.

Macro Promotional Products

Getting the right amount of contact information from the right people is a surefire way of getting leads. In the case of trade shows, there are many ways you can achieve this depending on what type of execution fits your business and your business needs.

You can go traditional with sign-up forms, offering something for free like handouts, free trials of your service, coupons for your business, or even free use of a lounging area which will do well for tired trade show attendees. As mentioned before, you can also gamify your booth, encouraging others to play a fun game that can earn them a prize. Choose your prizes wisely as a great prize can mean less effort in enticing them to sign-up.

Cathy Houston, Delta Marketing Group

PopSockets stick to the back of your smartphone or tablet with a rinseable gel to use as a phone stand or grip. Be sure to mention to prospects that this stand is ideal for texting or video chatting to make it applicable to their lifestyle.

Leverage full color imprinting and brand this product to make for a worthwhile giveaway that will be useful to your recipients.The key to the most successful trade show giveaways is finding something that hits the sweet spot between unique, attractive, and useful.

Make everyone who visits your booth a walking advertisement for your business. Every item you offers visitors should be branded, from fun and flashy giveaway swag (think lanyards) to the paper and plastic bags you use. Inkhead has a wide selection of brandable promotional products you that can circulate throughout the trade show and bring more traffic your way. Browse Inkhead’s brandable products.

Harald Meyer-Delius, PrintSome

In our personal opinion, headwear has a marketing potential that hasn’t been exploited enough. Hats remain visible when a T-shirt can be covered with a jacket, for example. Keep in mind that the best way to customize baseball caps is with embroidery which gives them a perceived higher value.

Daniel Lambert, Metro Exhibits

Coffee is something a lot of people drink daily. This means, more opportunities for your brand to be top-of-mind with a stainless steel coffee tumbler. Associating yourselves with something done more often increases top-of-mind awareness.

Eric Dyson, Nimlok Trade Show Marketing

If possible, make sure your trade show giveaway has your company logo printed, etched or chiseled on it. Remember, no matter how cool the giveaway item is, you will lose out on exposure if it cannot be immediately linked back to your brand. Think of giveaway items that tie-in to your brand and industry. This will help attendees associate your brand with your industry and give you additional brand prominence within your market.

Part of getting good traffic at trade shows is to ensure that your target audience is attending! You may have the most accommodating staff manning the booth, high-impact audio and visual equipment, or man’s best invention since sliced bread. But if you’re at the wrong show and people who’re likely to take interest in your offering are not attending, you won’t get traffic. Maybe a few freebie-seekers and aggressive networkers, but not the people you hope to attract.

15. Host a photobooth.

We present at trade shows, and my top idea is to host a photobooth! People love taking photos, and a photobooth is a fun way to break the ice and network in a more casual way. The photos are also great for a business’ social media presence as it adds a lighthearted, human element.

16. Be strategic with your layout to engage maximum attendees.

Don’t put a table between yourself and the customer. It is very easy to become complacent during the lulls at trade shows and find yourself absorbed in checking e-mails etc. behind the table and not engaging people at all. Set your table up in a manner that invites people to come INTO your booth.

If you have a fun game in your booth relevant to your industry, while other vendors down the aisle have nothing but brochures, where do you think people will end up? Make sure that your games have an element of fun and attract positive attention.

Don’t forget to take advantage of this opportunity to collect information. Have attendees sign up to participate. This will allow you to build a list that can be used after the event. We recently worked with a client to create a miniature golf hole concept. The obstacles were themed to the specific event and the target market was likely to be a golfer. Hole in one!

You and your team should be posting to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter throughout the event, using both your program’s designated hashtag as well as those of participating sponsors. But it’s not enough for you to keep posting — to ensure greater foot traffic to exhibitors’ booths, encourage partners to do the same.

More and more, event attendees are following social media to see the latest and greatest emerging directly from show floors. By posting to these platforms and including limited time offers, sponsors will boost attendee engagement and snag some long-term friends, fans, followers, and even customers.

20. Encourage attendees to return to your booth.

Allow guests to register to win a prize, and give them something they must bring back to the booth at a later time to claim their prize. This keeps your brand on the front of their mind for the length of the trade show and gives the brand a second chance at showing off the product. I saw it done with bringing back anything from shirts to glow necklaces. Nothing like a sea of people wearing something you gave out on a mission to return to your booth. Talk about branding.

Barbara Findlay Schenck, Wiley Publishing/For Dummies

In business, 20 percent of customers account for 80 percent of sales, while another 20 percent account for 80 percent of problems. Your job is to focus on the [potentially] profitable 20 percent while not getting consumed by the demands of the costly few. Define your best customers–those who are most satisfied and most profitable–so you can nurture and attract more just like them. At the same time, define which customers cost your business time and profitability.

Mandy Movahhed, Handshake

If you used social media channels to engage and attract feedback, make sure you continue the conversation. Tweet photos, use Pinterest and Facebook and give people the validation that their effort was worth their time.

Bottom Line: Trade Show Display Ideas

What it comes down to is planning, and planning well. If you set clear goals for you and your team from the very beginning, decisions will be easier to make with a core idea in mind. These goals must be communicated clearly to all your staff and anyone who will be manning your trade show booth. If you all know what you’re aiming for, you will surely earn more, or at the very least learn more, from the experience.

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About the Author

Alexandra is a staff writer at Fit Small Business. Prior to this, she worked as a social media manager and content creator for digital marketing companies. In her spare time, she wrestles with her dogs and writes about less technical things.

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Comments (15)Disclaimer: Reviews on FitSmallBusiness.com are the product of independent research by our writers, researchers, and editorial team. User reviews and comments are contributions from independent users not affiliated with FitSmallBusiness.com's editorial team. Banks, issuers, credit card companies, and other product & service providers are not responsible for any content posted on FitSmallBusiness.com. As such, they do not endorse or guarantee any posted comments or reviews.Post Your Comment

Thanks for sharing the great ideas for trade show booth, we are event management apps company, we provide lead retrieval app that helps you scan the QR Codes printed on the attendee badges to collect and store leads right on their mobile devices and an online portal. We have integration done with Sales force CRM where the leads get sync with the click of a button. It increases exhibitors ROI and help them generate more quality leads. http://www.eventdex.com

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